Pattern: Garter Rib Scarf

A sure sign of winter is knitting in my hands.

I used to knit a lot — lace tablecloths, counterpanes, doilies, sweaters, shawls, scarves, leg warmers, Moebius strips, hand warmers, hats, fruit, miniature socks with sewing thread and .5mm needles, wire jewelry, beaded bags, the list goes on and on. At some point I must have reached overload because I slowly realised that I had stopped knitting. (I haven’t even photographed most of my knitting!)

But I still knit when the weather turns cold. Taking up photography spurred me to take up knitting again, because suddenly I needed warm woolly things like leg warmers and fingerless gloves. Here’s a scarf that I just finished. The pattern is very easy but looks impressive. It’s reversible and it doesn’t curl. What more could you ask for? My version is 5 inches wide and 60 inches long, because I like to fold it in half and tuck the ends through the loop. You can increase the number of stitches if you prefer a wider version, as long as it’s a multiple of 4 plus 2.

The pattern repeat is only one row and it forms alternating strips of 2 stitches of garter stitch and 2 stitches of twisted rib (knit/purl). I made it from some German wool that had been in my stash for ages. The orange, blue, and purple strands match my purple coat. (I sewed this wool melton coat about 15 years ago and have worn it every winter since!)

Garter-Rib Scarf

Materials:
US size 8 (5 mm, UK size 6) knitting needles
150 grams (about 6 oz) of worsted weight yarn

Gauge: 9 stitches = 2 inches

Directions:

Cast on 26 stitches (or a multiple of 4 + 2).

Row 1: * k2, k1 through back, p1, * k2.

Repeat Row 1 until you have about 24 inches of yarn left.

Cast off.